The
face of PvP in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/47"
target="_blank">
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars
has changed quite a bit over the years. From a lower barrier of entry
to a plethora of new arena options the system has grown to offer
something for players of all skill levels. Continuing our series of
second look editorials, Reuben “Sardu” Waters
recently traveled to the beating heart of PvP in
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars,
the Battle Isles, offering some insights as to how the competitive
aspects of the game have changed and what challenges await new or
returning players.

Random arenas are
pretty similar to the team arenas in the sense that
both focus on 4v4 competition. The key difference is that with the
random arenas you don’t need to spend time finding a group
– as the name suggests you simply hit the ‘Enter
Battle’ button and you’ll be randomly placed into a
group with 3 other players. While you’ll still come across
some pretty hardcore players in the random arena matches, for the most
part these tend to be quick, fun events that I think really help you
learn quite a bit about how different build types function in
competitive play.